Skulduggery Pleasant: At the end of it All
by Perun Lock
Summary: Another madman tries to mould the shape of mortal and magical lives alike and as always the usual cast have something to say. With a new friend of Ghastly's (Perun Lock) and a nervous assistant (Yosyp Zealot) will the new additions prove worthy to the Detective? Specifically, Lock and Zealot are mine. Dedicated to Mr Derek Landy, in the hope that one day he will read this :)
1. Chapter 1

This piece is based on the Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy, any info taken or related from the books are not mine. Hope you enjoy.

Valkyrie Cain shrunk lower into the confines of the car. God it was cold. "What is the matter with you? You've been like this since last week and I'm fed up with it" said Skulduggery. "I'm cold" Valkyrie moaned. "And that's exactly what I mean! Embrace the weather" he nodded not taking his eyes from the road. A scowl was returned from across the car, "OK, OK just making suggestions". Another few miles of road passed without a word. Slowly the familiar signs for Haggard began to crop up, weathered and battered by the cold sea air, the words were barely recognisable not that anyone needed to see it. "Valkyrie, do you see that guy running towards us?" asked Skulduggery. Valkyrie was still struggling to see this figure when **CRUNCH**. "Oh my God did that guy just hit the bonnet?!" .Without a word Skulduggery opened the door of the Bentley and slipped out into the night, gracefully drawing his newly acquired Smith & Wesson from his jacket. Equally as quick and notably, before Skulduggery could say otherwise, Valkyrie hopped out of the passenger side, all thoughts of coldness gone from her mind. Coolly, without lowering the pistol "Who are you". "My name is Lock" said the new man. "You scratched my Bentley". "I know sorry, I'll fix it later- I need your help, I need to talk to a Mr Bespoke? It hasn't been an easy journey and it's strictly confidential" looking around as though expecting someone to run at him. Cocking his head slightly Skulduggery said "You want to talk to Ghastly? Do you even know him?". "Yes" a smile playing across his lips "Yes, I do". "Give me a minute please I need to talk with my partner" ushering Valkyrie over to the far side of the car "What do you think?" "What do you mean what do I think?" "Can we trust him? Come on Valkyrie, do keep up" Valkyrie gave a look that would melt steel "I don't know I've only just met the guy" sighing Skulduggery said "I know this guy, he's fairly influential in both the Irish and English magical communities although he refuses to grace his name with any official organisation". Valkyrie stared at him open mouthed, then laughingly pointed out "like us then"… Considering this Skulduggery nodded curtly "Rather, but to get back to the matter at hand, you also might know him because he's a good friend of Hansard Kray". Valkyries face flushed. "You're going red Valkyrie. Do you kno-""shut up". Turning away, Skulduggery and this new guy, Lock, started talking. Every passing second they were getting friendlier, and looked more like long lost friends. Eventually Skulduggery came back. "Hey Val, I've made us a deal alright? We are going to drop Lock off to see Ghastly, we'll escort him, and he's agreed to fix up the Bentley and a give us a free weapon…" Valkyries face still reflected the ever darkening sky. "Come on! I'll let you choose the weapon, you're always saying you want a weapon, even though I got you that stick!". "When do I get it". "We'll sort it out on the way". Grouchily Valkyrie slinked off to the car and climbed into her seat scowling. "Get in the back, it'll be about ten minutes until we get there".

As Lock stepped out the car he breathed in. It had been too long since he had stood on these shores and breathed this air. Turning around he saw Ghastly. "Perun!" "Ghastly!" "I haven't seen you in years Perun, where have you been?" "Oh you know ducking and weaving, the norm really". Ghastly suddenly turned to Skulduggery "I've mentioned Lock haven't I?" nodding Skulduggery moved up to him and stuck out his hand " I'll introduce myself formerly now I know who you are, my name is

Skulduggery Pleasant and this is my partner-" "Cain. Valkyrie Cain" Valkyrie didn't get a good feeling from this guy. Maybe it was just because he was new but… "Valkyrie. I get the feeling you don't like me." Lock looked at her curiously as if deciding whether to complete the sentiment or not. "What is it?" Valkyrie, for the second time that evening, flushed red. "It's not that I don't like you it's just you're a stranger, so, I guess I let people earn my trust" nodding Lock looked straight into Valkyries eyes. "This is also how I operate. Good." Only then did Valkyrie notice what he was wearing, Lock wore green combat trousers and a Gore-Tex jacket. He was wearing British Army uniform. "You're wearing mortal uniform?". "Oh, I spent some time with the GROM and the SAS, you know, mortal army's, we can learn a lot." Nodding Valkyrie turned away "I look forward to seeing you in action Lock". Looking up Skulduggery said "Best be off, good meeting you Lock" "And you, Mr Pleasant, I admire your reputation and it has been an honour to meet you". Nodding curtly Skulduggery donned his trilby and walked off along the corridor, disappearing amongst the shadows whistling a strangely recognisable tune… Shrugging off the memory "Ghastly, I need to talk to you alone, I've found something that you best know about" "I'm all ears" "Not here, where I'm from I learned the true meaning of 'walls have ears'" nodding darkly Ghastly nodded "Okay, room 2267 five minutes".

"You remember the last time we talked Ghastly?" "Yes. You told me you were doing a Black Op in the Philippines" "I lied. My group betrayed me. Twenty-two minutes over the Bay of Bengal the entire population of the plane, granted it was only five of them, attempted to kill me. As the last man lay on the metal floor of the Cessna he spat out some final words; he denounced his actions and pleaded with me to hear his final words, he told me to go to Manila, find a man called Novak" "Come on!" said Ghastly "I need more than this!" Shrugging his shoulders Perun looked up "This is the worrying bit. So, I'm in Manila looking for this guy I'm staying in some guys basement, one morning I wake up with a note on my chest saying 'I see you. Leave.' I walked up the stairs, but I could tell something was wrong. It just didn't feel right. I opened the door at the top of the stairs to find the family I had been staying with nailed by shards of darkness to the opposite wall". "You aren't telling me what I think you are Perun? Cause you better have no doubt in your mind when I tell the others?" Staring directly into Ghastly's eyes he said "I have no doubt."

Suddenly the door swung open, a new mage stood panting at the door, "Sir, sir we've a problem-" "The Mephistopheles" the assistants mouth swung open "Ye-Yes, we found a victim in Dublin" nodding his consent Ghastly beckoned the man closer. "What is your name?"…"Zealot sir, Yosyp Zealot" nodding Ghastly replied "You report to me now, do not speak a word to the elders or anybody else for that matter. Prepare yourself, you'll be working alongside Lock, myself and of course Mr Pleasant and Miss Cain". Nodding hurriedly, Zealot rushed from the room.

"How are we going to do this?" But just as Perun was about to answer a shrill scream pierced the air. Grimacing Ghastly nodded "Ah".


	2. Chapter 2

This piece is based on the Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy, any info taken or related from the books are not mine. Hope you enjoy.

A shrill ringing erupted from the phone on the desktop, Valkyrie sighed and picked up the mobile "sup".

"Val, we've got the remains of what can be barely considered a human relation lying face down in a puddle in a Dublin backstreet and you answer the phone with 'sup'? Wait, don't even answer that. The point is we've got a... I'm not calling this human. I'm picking you up in 10. Be ready. And don't wear your Sunday best." The phone went dead.

For the hundredth time that morning Valkyrie sighed and snapped the phone shut placing it carefully on the coffee table. Better get sorted.

Wait. Something was wrong. The wind whistled through the house as if the doors were open. Brusquely, Val crept alongside the wall towards the living room. The howling got louder.

A scream wrung out across the neighbourhood for all to hear. And there was good reason. Sprawled midway across the door into the garden a body laid grotesquely bent and ruined. The eyes of who- whatever it was had been ripped out the sockets, the skin off the skull had been ripped off, turned inside out and placed on top of the skull again. Another scream.

Hurriedly Valkyrie looked away from the disgusting mess on the floor fighting off convulsions that were ripping through her body. Then it hit her she looked through the door toward the bottom of the garden. Standing there, head slightly to one side almost admiring the situation stood a cloaked figure. Then he vanished. Behind him in bright red was drawn a smiley face staring directly into Valkyries hunted eyes.

"Valkyrieeeeee" a deep shout echoed through the house.

Skulduggery wrapped his arms around her, embracing what little warmth was left in her cold body.

Meanwhile, In the Sanctuary

"Yeah that kind of would be a decent place to start wouldn't it?" said Lock

"Could not agree more."

Both men moved swiftly from the room Lock had draw on his pistols, two mortal Glock hand guns if it was anything to judge by. Good guns.

The corridors of the sanctuary were usually cold, silent and grim but today something else had added to the usual tonic. Cold fear. You could taste the heightened suspense. A roar echoed down the corridor and then shrieks of the same tone. It sounded almost stupid. Cruel and brutal, but stupid. Surely an animal could not cause so much trouble?

As they reached the door to the room they saw what it was. A pale man crouched in the corner, his body dirty and his nails destroyed in either hand he held a bloody cleaver. Crimson blood spattered across his chest. The strange thing was making odd rasping noises when it looked up. Snarl. It began to run at the duo but just as it sprang over the desk, it dissolved into pure black bubbling dust.

"What the hell was that?" asked Ghastly

Crouching down Lock sifted his fingers through the black dust, almost gunpowder like. He brought it up to his nose. "S**t. S**t it's quick." "This" waving the powder in Ghastly's face "is purified charcoal found only when burning the ancient Hinton wood. This is the remains of an Ragnarok. A tormented soul sent by Satanists"

He spat.

"There's only one guy I know capable of that"

"Mephistopheles" said Ghastly his eyes narrowing.

Suddenly they felt something. The lights at the far end of the corridor flickered. On, off, on...Off, on, off. "It ain't just me who doesn't like the look of that darkness?" said Lock

Ghastly agreed. But he'd be damned if he was going to back down from a faulty bulb. "Show yourself!" an evil childlike laugh echoed from down the corridor and the dust that had nestled upon the floor seeped between the tiled floor.

"Hehehehehehe"

Woomf, Ghastly sent a ball of flames hurtling down toward the laugh. It vanished as if hitting water. "Hehehehehehe"

Lock walked into the centre of the corridor. Looking at Ghastly he muttered "I'll pay for this later" bunching his fists together in front of him he split the floor in front of him sending sparks from the lights above. Taking out a match Lock struck it against the wall and dropped it into the new depths below.

Fire erupted down the length of the passage lighting up everything. Finally they saw the creature.

A small girl stood at the end of the corridor. Her eyes black, her skin dirty and her hair ragged. It held out a sheet of paper and in a whiny voice it spoke "Hello mister, I want you to have this!"

Suddenly it was right in front of them holding out the paper. Both men stumbled back feeling for a grip. With shuddering hands Ghastly took the paper but didn't look. "Goodbye mister!" and the child-demon erupted into a cloud of black smoke.

"Where the bloody hell is everyone?" said Lock. The wall next to them erupted as Lock ripped it out. "S**t man. Where the hell are we?"

Ghastly took a look himself and could see only dark woods. The trees stood around them it was as if the corridor had been ripped from the sanctuary and flown somewhere else. The trees hemmed them in.

"Gis a look at that paper Ghastly?"

Weakly Ghastly handed it over. Dropping the paper Lock spun around as if searching for something. Stopping he sprinted towards the woods all the time with what seemed like a purpose. "Ohhhh God. Ohhhh Jesus."

"What the hell is it?" said Ghastly only realising the irony of the statement after he had said it "Actually, what the hell is it now?"

Returning from beyond the trees Perun Lock was dressed in a biological warfare suit. Grasping Ghastly's arm he said "We need to get back to Dublin, that paper said two things; where two suits were and that whoever wrote this wanted to see our reactions." "It said, we had two days so we better get moving"

"Wait!" said Ghastly "What the hell does this mean?"

Sighing Lock turned "Listen, I'm really sorry, but I lied, that Black Op in the Philippines wasn't so... Official... The guy's in London have been doing some adding up. The Intel groups are always monitoring everything and in this case we found something. Over the past year some guy has been buying up different material equal to the amount needed to make a bomb"

"what sort of bomb? We've dealt with one before"

Waving his argument away Perun responded "No. Not you're magic. No this is pure brutality. This guy is making nukes. 15 of em'."

"Am I supposed to make something of this?" asked Ghastly

"This guy has bombs that can flatten countries. He has 15 of em'. Guess what another significant 15 is? Tectonics. The very sinews of our planet ain't magic, it's science and from my way of looking, this guy, is gunna blow apart what is holding this ground we're standing on together."


	3. Chapter 3

This piece is based on the Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy, any info taken or related from the books are not mine. Hope you enjoy.

Skulduggery put a protective arm around Valkyrie, but all the time assuring himself of any danger around them. Satisfied they were alone he surveyed the body, the face and most importantly: Valkyrie.

She was freezing. She was staring straight into his shoulder as if unaware of any presence at all.

"Val. Val come on. I'm going to need you to close your eyes OK? I'm going to bring you to the sanctuary, Ghastly can look after you. I'll figure out who did this."

Skulduggery thought about the situation. If all was well he would make a witty remark. Not now. His indispensible partner (Although he'd never tell her that) was out of action. And he already missed her. Not good. Not good at all.

Yosyp came to a sudden halt. Only seconds ago he had been sprinting down an empty corridor in the sanctuary heading towards a wall of darkness, now he was standing on the edge of a crater. As if the entire mid section of the corridor had been liquidised from the ground.

Around 100 meters of the sanctuary had vanished leaving behind what looked like it could be an undeveloped underground tunnel. You could see plumbing and wires sticking out from amongst the dirt, although no rough edges.

He was still surveying the scene when four Cleavers came sprinting past him and jumped into the space below proceeding to search the craters walls for any signs of magical interference.

Spitting into the hole in front of him and with a definite Ukrainian accent he spoke quietly "It's magic alright."

Turning from the scene he pulled a Smartphone from his trench coat and proceeded to dial the experienced detective's number.

A shrill ringing pierced the car. Rain lashed down in sheets a top the Bentley not helping Skulduggerys predicament much more. Angrily he stabbed at the phone.

"About time, Mephistopheles came for her."

The Ukrainian voice spoke "Annagassan. Bring her with you."

Confusedly Skulduggery began to reply "Zealot?! What the hell is this- Where is Ghastly?"

But his attempts at communication was futile. A shrill beep emerged from the phone. He was gone.

"Dammit."

Yosyp Zealot faced out onto the sea breathing in the coastal air. This place was not unlike the Zhovtnevyi district. Not unlike _home._ Minus the -10 temp perhaps.

His thoughts were interrupted by the skeletons arrival.

"What the hell do you think you're doing Zealot. She's out like a light and you drag me to the coast without option?!"

Ignoring the fuming detective Zealot stepped next to the Bentley and looked down on Valkyrie.

"Is what I thought. Shock only- no more"

Sagging Skulduggery said "I've never been like this before. I've never met anything like this"

Amused the Ukrainian looked up "No worry. 400 years have helped little restraining this thing. You barely had 3 days."

"What do we do" regaining slightly his attitude

Walking back around to stand next to Skulduggery he handed him his phone. It showed what had happened back at the sanctuary.

"We find your friends before it does." Turning he looked back towards the rolling waves and shrugged

"Pray maybe also"

Suddenly the car door opened. Unsupported a groggy Valkyrie tumbled out onto the soaking dirt track.

"Val!"

Skulduggery ran toward her as she struggled to her feet. Seeming as if to remember herself she screamed. Not an 'I saw a spider' scream, a scream that stirred the soul, that made you shiver, that made even the fiercest Tigers run for the trees.

Valkyrie was embraced by Skulduggery. And sobbed. Tears racked her body. All of a sudden thoughts of her past flooded her mind; her baby sister, her mum, her dad, losing Tanith. She gathered herself together. Only to see that image in her head. The eyes reeling. The muscle sinew. Shuddering she collapsed back into the car.

"I'm sorry" she muttered.

The Ukrainian remained stock still facing the Irish Sea.

"What are we going to do Mr Pleasant?" said the Ukrainian

"We are going to do what we usually do. Track him, find him and lock him up."

A shrill ringing broke the silence that had briefly settled over the trio. Frowning Yosyp reached into his pocket for his phone.

"Hello"

A deadly rustling came from the phone as the man slowly paled from the words he heard. In a deadly whisper he responded

"I will find you."

He ended the call and looked up

"We need to leave here now."

"Who was it? What was said?"

"I am not sure who- what it was. It was computer generated. It was just laughing... Just laughing..."

Running side by side Ghastly and Lock looked formidable. Both stood at 6 foot 3 and wore military issue gas masks. The dark forest surrounding them held secrets. But today it was just the two men. And two kids. The laughing they had heard at the sanctuary rang out again.

"Hello mister's..."

Both men ran a little faster. On Ghastly's shoulder suddenly a child appeared, pale, cold and dead. Its eyes were all black and its teeth were pointed. It's nails were like nails. Laughing, it raked its claws along Ghastly's side. Roaring in pain he carried on running. To his right, Lock drew one of his Glock's. A sharp slap across Locks face put him off. They had both stopped now. Two blurs moved around them. With no warning Ghastly drew a seven inch Kommando knife and lashed out into the blurs. One fell screaming its black mouth wide. It crudely but swiftly crawled towards him. Three shots from a Glock entered its upper back ending its crude bewitchment. The other blur came to a halt. It twitched its head to the side, snarling. A rough noise came from deep in its chest.

"Where are you from?" Ghastly screamed

He launched forward, the toothed edge of his blade inches from the Ragnarok's chest as it crumbled into charcoal. As it went a cruel 'byebye' sounded on the wind.

Glancing at each other. They muttered a curse to the forest. And began to walk.

"What the hell are these things? Their almost as bad as Remnants."

Grimacing Lock replied

"I agree. You know as that thing went it sort of pointed over there" nodding over his shoulder.

Nodding they both began to walk in the direction when they saw a pair of headlights. They ran almost as fast as before. As they broke out of the woods and onto the tarmac the car had just passed. But the driver had seen them. It began to reverse and pulled up next to them. Hurridley they stuffed the gas masks into their coats and hid their weapons.

"Where are you boys gan'?"

Thoroughly Irish.

"Anywhere. In fact where are we?"

The driver looked at them like they were insane.

"Cloghanmore. I'm going into Enniskillen if that helps?"

The two men looked into the drivers face warmly and muttered thanks as they clambered into the old man's car. As they drove away they both registered alarm as a figure in a cloak stepped onto the road as the car rounded the corner.


End file.
